Rose and Fell: Book I 'Life and Death'
by Hiinst
Summary: Quirrell isn't evil, Dudley was never born, Voldemort never made any Horcruxes, Sirius is freed by the end of book two, Fem!Harry achieves her life's ambition and it's still darker than the original. Good luck Potter... you'll need it.
1. Chapter I Deliberation and accidents

**Foreword/Disclaimer**

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

**J.K. Rowling and/or Warner Brothers do.**

**This story is incomplete.**

**I would not normally publish an unfinished story but I am suffering from writers block and would like some advice as to how to continue. I do have the major scenes already planned out but I am having trouble getting to them.**

**WARNING: this story will have adult themes.**

**WARNING: this story is the most AU story possible that is still recognizable as Harry Potter.**

**As much as possible I will be trying to 'Fix' the characters that JK made mistakes on.**

**I will also be taking elements of the HP universe and twisting them.**

**the most glaring example of this is that there is no prophecy...but 'Harry' still fulfills the terms of it.**

**Thanks for listening (er... reading).**

Deliberation and Accidents.

"James! The wards!"

"I felt it. How did he... It doesn't matter. Get Jenny."

As the woman ran from the room the door opened and a... thing... stepped through. It might once have been human. Now... now it was simply a thing.

"Hello, James," The creature said in a genial tone, "It's been such a _long_ time."

"How did you get in here?" James answered in a snarl.

The creature smiled and shook its head. "Manners, manners James, or is it Blackmane?" James gasped slightly at the name, "Didn't anyone ever tell you, James, never trust a rat."

James snarled angrily at this and charged at the creature whilst changing into a magnificent black maned lion with tangled locks.

Lily was running up the stairs of the house when she felt the wards around the property shake suddenly. Paling she stumbled as a weight settled on her. She grazed her hand on the banister but didn't notice as she quickly stood up tears now running from her green almond shaped eyes. Running into a little girls room, decorated in the traditional pink, she picked up the girl from the bed and held her. Placing her hand on the girls chest above her heart she began pouring power into the creation of a defensive ward. Her hand glowing pearly white, which spread to the girls skin, she didn't notice the small trickle of blood slowly soaking into the girls dress from the graze on her hand. The door, which had closed itself behind her, suddenly sprung open and the creature stood there calmly an amused look on its face.

"With James dead your maintaining the wards on this place yourself. You don't have the energy to protect _both_ of you and hold up the wards."

Lily's hand convulsed on the girls chest inadvertently scratching her.

"Goodbye, dearest Lily, you put your faith in the wrong man and now you pay the price." It raised its hand. A green energy swirled round its fingertips. The blood from the scratch on the little girls chest mixed with the blood already on her dress. The green energy flared. Lily Potter died still holding a protection ward on her daughter. The wards on the property shuddered and began to lessen.

When the person maintaining wards on a property dies inside them all the power they have is transferred to the wards. When there is no-one alive to maintain the wards they gradually start draining of power. Normally. Unknown to the creature, the moment Lily died all of her power conducted through the blood link to her daughter, into the protection spell she was holding. In doing so an arc of lightning carved a circle of runes about an inch wide on her chest immediately above her heart and on Lily's hand where it touched her. Now... every ward in the house, centuries of stored power, was tied to a protection spell on a little girl.

The creature stopped and thought for a moment. "which one sounds better: 'Little Girl Orphaned' or 'Whole Family Slaughtered'?" It turned and negligently used the same curse on the girl as it had on her mother.

The shock-wave was felt hundreds of miles away.


	2. Chapter II Old and New

Old and New

On the end of privet drive, a nice normal neighbourhood in a nice normal town, a not so normal man appeared with a slight pop. He was wearing clothes of a style that would not have been out of place in a medieval castle, though the fact that the orange dragons woven into his purple robes seemed to be moving completely independently and the fire they were breathing glowed faintly, would likely have seen him burned at the stake. Or at least they would have tried to burn him at the stake. Despite his eccentric appearance and his apparent age (he had a long pure white flowing beard and heavily wrinkled skin) he gave off an aura of power and authority. Standing perfectly erect both hands gripping an ornately carved walking stick (that he didn't seem to be using) and at at least six foot ten he seemed oddly intimidating.

He turned to face one of the houses and began to walk towards it, stopping half way to glare at the street light that illuminated his features, immediately every street light on the street went out as though the power had suddenly been cut. Seemingly satisfied with this he continued walking to number four.

A cat that had been sat on the corner of number four's garden wall suddenly walked forward and stood beside him, an outside observer would be forgiven for thinking that, perhaps, this cat were his familiar, until that is the cat turned into a rather stern looking woman wearing bottle-green robes. It has to be admitted that she looked considerably less eccentric than the man did, after all on a woman robes merely look like a rather odd dress (though the lack of animated dragons also probably helped). The man didn't seem remotely surprised at the sudden appearance of the woman.

"Albus," came the woman's voice, "what are we doing here?"

"We are here to give little Jenny into her aunts care," the man (apparently 'Albus') replied.

"But... they aren't like us! They're _normal_," she said the word like it had some special meaning or significance. "Jenny can't grow up here!"

"She must, she will be safe here. Even now there are those who would seek to kill her or use her for their own ends. And given who her father was I think I can safely say that her being in the spotlight would not be a good idea," his eyes carried an amused twinkle at the last statement and the woman seemed to be fighting the urge to smile though her eyes were sad.

"So," she said once she'd managed to gain control of herself, "how is she getting here?"

"Hagrid is bringing her from the Ministry,"

In response she spluttered slightly, "Hagrid!"

"Yes, Hagrid," Albus rolled his eyes, "You really need to have more confidence in him, he has yet to let me down,"

Above their heads a loud bang was heard and a gust of wind seemed to ruffle their robes (though not a leaf was moved in any of the gardens on privet drive). Out of the sky, fell, what looked like, a large motorbike with an even larger rider on it. The motorbike was made of an odd sort of metal somewhat like silver but with gold speckling and an odd oily sheen. On the front between the handlebars was the skull of a horse-like creature though it seemed to have sharp pointed teeth like a wolf. The seat and anywhere else the metal wasn't visible was lined with what looked like black horse-hair though it to looked a little... off. The rider got of the motorbike after it landed on the ground. The bike remained standing and the engine was clearly running though without a sound.

The rider was a tall man, at least eight foot and wider than he should have been, even for his height. He had a long tangled mane of brown hair. The hair on his head ran round under his chin seamlessly becoming his beard. Oddly his eyebrows and the hair actually on his face was grey and smooth, while the hair on top of his head and beneath his chin was dark brown and coarse. The riders body was composed of bulging muscles, though those muscles didn't seem to be connected to the right places and he winced as he moved as though his muscles were sometimes trying to pull him in the wrong direction. All of this plus his slightly misshapen face with a prominent brow gave the impression that a not particularly skilled sculptor had moulded him (from rather too much clay) while having only a passing familiarity with what humans looked like. He helped a small girl from the bike, her slim form had been completely concealed by his massive frame whilst riding the bike.

The girl looked to be around four years old and she was beautiful. Her hair was jet black, had it been shorter it would simply have looked messy, as it was the added weight made the unruly hair fall into loose curls. Her skin was pale and looked like fine china and her almond shaped eyes were a rich dark green. All of this and the blue dress she was wearing gave her the appearance of a Porcelain doll. Her eyes were filled with sadness. A bandage was visible just at the collar of her dress, having been wrapped around her chest.

"Hagrid, thank you for bringing her," Albus said jovially, though the tone was more than a little forced. The girl (presumably Jenny) didn't seem to notice, either the tone, or its insincerity.

"Least I could do Chief," Hagrid said to Albus, "Professor McGonagall," he nodded to the woman.

"Now," said Albus decisively "we're going to have to talk with Petunia about your new living arrangements," with which Albus completed his walk to the front door of number four Privet Drive and rang the doorbell.

Five minutes later a rather irate Petunia Dursley opened the door and said quite forcefully "What do you think you're doing! Its three o'clock in the morning!" at which point she caught sight of the tall imposing man, the even taller misshapen but friendly looking man and the stern woman standing outside her door and seemed to deflate.

"Mrs Petunia Dursley?" Albus said genially.

She nodded dumbly.

"Formerly Miss Petunia Evans?"

She nodded again.

"Sister of one Lily Potter also formerly Evans?"

She nodded more slowly.

"We are here to discuss one Jenny Potter, your niece," he steered Jenny forward and the porch light flickered on giving the impression of putting her in a spotlight. Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes at Albus suspecting he'd done it deliberately.


	3. Chapter III Between 9 and 10

Between Nine and Ten

September first always came too quickly for children over second year going to Hogwarts, by that time the thrill of going somewhere new and exciting had worn off and it had become just another school. Though by its very nature it still remained exciting, it had lost that thrill of the unknown. The first years on the other hand were driving their parents crazy as they eagerly anticipated what would for many of them be their first time away from home.

Ron Weasley was no different, in fact, having five older brothers who'd already gone to Hogwarts, he'd basically grown up on stories of the place and the kind of things that happened there. He was therefore quite justifiably excited. His little sister, Ginny, however, was rapidly becoming annoying. All of her brothers had or were about to leave home in one form or another and she was going to be left alone. She couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts herself and make lots of new friends. Until then however she was going to be very lonely.

As the Weasleys entered Kings cross station Mrs Weasley (their mother) looked worriedly at the ticket and noted that they had less than ten minutes left to get on the platform before it would be sealed. The group of six (Mrs Weasley, Percy the fifth year, Fred and George the twins both third years, Ron the first year and Ginny two years younger) bustled towards the platform. As they arrived at the place between Platform Nine and Platform Ten they saw a ring drawn on the ground and littered with runic symbols. None of the other commuters seemed to notice it was there and any of them that were on a course to walk over or through it would suddenly walk round it to the other side and then continue as though nothing had happened apparently completely unaware of having changed direction.

Percy immediately walked forward to the clear space at the centre of the ring and vanished. Ginny, having been looking round curiously, tugged on her mothers sleeve. Mrs Weasley looked down at her nine year old daughter who pointed at a girl stood a few yards away staring at the centre of the ring where Percy had just vanished. Mrs Weasley walked over cleared her throat and said "Hello dear," The girl started.

"I-I..." She looked down her hair almost completely covering her face as she stuttered.

Mrs Weasley decided to take pity on her and said "First time at Hogwarts?"

The girl nodded.

"B-But... I d-don't..." she trailed of hesitantly.

Mrs Weasley smiled. "You don't know how to get onto the platform?"

The girl shook her head appearing almost afraid.

"Don't worry about it, now do you have your ticket...? Good now do you see that little circle in the top right hand corner made of runes...? Just make certain your touching that and step into the centre of the circle on the ground. Okay?"

The girl nodded and, looking resolute, walked to the centre of the circle holding her ticket and promptly vanished. The Weasleys began to filter through the ring and one after another (with the twins once again doing that stupid joke where they pretended to be each other) arrived on the platform.

Stone columns ran the length of the wall supporting the vaulted ceiling. The alcoves lining the walls between the columns each contained a large stone grotesque (a gargoyle without water pouring from its mouth). At the top of each column sat another grotesque. The grotesques in the alcoves looked burly, stupid, vicious and heavily armed (or in some cases clawed). Some of them looked battle scarred. The grotesques at the top of the pillars and columns on the other hand looked sly cunning and observant. Each carried a horn as though to alert the others that something had happened. The floor was slated and the edge of the platform made of clearly defined white stones. There was no visible way out. Light was provided by what looked like multicoloured fireflies. The platform was relatively crowded, the people wearing cloaks, robes, hoods and pointed hats. Though some of the people wore more modern clothes there was nothing later than the early sixteen-hundreds. A very select few were wearing obviously magical clothes (like a cloak that was rippling as though tossed by a gale and illuminated from above by broad daylight even though they were underground and there was no wind or a scarf that looked half invisible continually rippling and shifting which parts were there) but these people were being looked on with wariness by the majority of the platforms occupants and scorn by the rest.

Into this the Weasley family walked calmly, looking completely at home. Mrs Weasley waved at the girl they'd followed onto the platform who smiled shyly back. Percy, looking irritated, asked, quite rudely, what had taken them so long. Mrs Weasley frowned at him and he immediately took a step backwards and apologized for his rudeness. The Weasleys said their goodbyes and began to head for the edge of the platform.

A large stone grandfather clock sat at each end of the platform. The minute hand ticked forward and the clock struck ten. Immediately several things happened. One: the ring of runes allowing entry onto the platform glowed red and then vanished. Two: a large black steam train trimmed in silver and gold pulled silently into the station despite this requiring it to pass straight through a solid stone wall. Three: a loud bell rang causing all the grotesques to rattle their wings irritably (if they had any). Four: every parent began ushering their children onto the train.

As the twins approached the train they noticed the girl from before struggling to lift her trunk onto the carriage. Stepping forward they each simultaneously pulled their wooden wands out of their pockets and gave a swish-and-flick directing the flick at the trunk which began to float. The girl blinked at the suddenly floating trunk then turned to the twins who smiled at her. She blushed, nodded shyly and pushed the floating trunk onto the carriage.

Ron was walking down the middle of the train, looking into the compartments as he passed. They were all full but he found one midway down the train which appeared to be empty. He quickly stored his trunk in the overhead storage and sat down.

A few moments later the twins walked past and, looking in the door, said together "Why are you two being so quiet then?"

Ron blinked "Two?"

"Yeah, you and her," they said pointing at the empty seat opposite him. Except it wasn't empty. The girl from before was looking at them all bemusedly.

Ron stared blankly for a moment and then said: "Where did she come from?"

The twins looked at each other then back at Ron, "We helped her put her trunk in here ten minutes ago. Don't tell us you walked right past her without noticing,"

The girl smiled slightly and seemed to retreat into herself. As she did so Ron and the twins found their eyes sliding off her unable to focus properly. Suddenly she seemed to snap back into existence and they blinked at her stupidly.

"How did you do that?" the twins said, no longer speaking together but alternating each word.

She shrugged.

"Well, it seems a bit late but why don't we introduce ourselves. I'm Fred... or am I George?" said one of the twins.

"You're definitely George, Fred's the handsome one and I'm way better looking than you."

"Ah, but George is the smart one and that was quite a clever comment."

"Not particularly, you're the one making clever arguments."

"And your the one making smart Alec remarks."

"What were we saying again?"

"I think we were introducing ourselves?"

"Oh yeah..."

They went back to speaking simultaneously: "Anyway, one of us is Fred, the others George, we're a bit sketchy on whose who right now though. This is our younger brother Ron. And you are?"

The girl looked blankly at them for a few moments before managing to catch up with the conversation and realising they'd asked her what her name was.

She calmly said "Rose," in a voice that was almost a croak and brushed her hair out of her face.

The three boys stared at her in awe, she looked so pretty, so perfect, almost doll-like. After a few moments she blushed and retreated back behind her hair. At once all three boys seemed to realize they were staring and that their stares were making her uncomfortable. Glancing at each other guiltily the twins bowed out by saying "Sorry about that, we'll leave you in the company of our brother Ron, we're going to meet our friend lee who claims to have a tarantula." Ron shuddered as they said this and the twins smirked evilly and identically.

Ron had taken the time while the twins were speaking to look closely at Rose. She was small, her feet not even touching the ground while she was sat on the seat. Her hair fell in soft curls and she was wearing the standard Hogwarts black school robes with a blank badge indicating that she hadn't been sorted into a house yet. She was wearing buckled white shoes which were perfectly clean and white socks also pristine. Everything about her screamed 'Little Girl' ... except her eyes. Her eyes were cold and empty. They looked dead. She looked, in fact, like a doll. Beautiful, perfect, yet empty.

As the train left the station Ron and Rose were engaged in conversation about Ron's family. Or rather Ron was talking about his family while Rose listened intently.

"My whole family's been sorted into Gryffindor. I think Mum'd be a bit disappointed if I went in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Dunno what she'd say if I was sorted into Slytherin... Gryffindor's the house o' the brave, Ravenclaw's are all smarts and Hufflepuff is supposed to be abou' loyalty and fair play. Slytherins are evil. That's basic'ly how it fits together,"

At this point the carriage door opened and three people walked in.

"Oh look," said the smallest of the three, "another Weasel. It seems like Hogwarts has an infestation of the things."

"Hoy!" said Ron angrily standing up, "Who the ruddy hell are you?"

The one who had spoken was about the same size as Ron give or take an inch, which put him a good foot taller than Rose, and a foot shorter than his two 'friends', though given their vacant expressions, muscles and size they looked considerably more like 'bodyguards' than 'friends'.

"Didn't your parents teach you to be polite when talking to your betters," he said calmly, "and it's Malfoy ... Draco Malfoy."

"Well, Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, get the hell out of my compartment," Ron said calmly.

"And who," Malfoy said amusedly, "is going to make me."

"That," said a voice immediately outside the compartment, "would be me." Malfoy turned suddenly and looked into the face of Percy Weasley, wearing a Gryffindor Badge with a white 'P' in the middle indicating that he was a prefect. He was also a little taller than the two muscle-bound thugs Malfoy had brought with him and was carrying his wand in full view.

Malfoy visibly paled and retreated out of the compartment watched by Percy who smirked slightly once he was out of sight.

"I love doing that" he said absently and, nodding at Ron, continued his patrol of the train.

Ron jumped slightly as Rose suddenly became visible... pointing her wand at where Malfoy had been stood.

"When'd you go invisible?"

Rose shook her head and said quietly "Not invisible."

Ron blinked, "Not invisible?"

Rose smiled at him and brushed her hair out of her face briefly. Ron looked faintly amused. He shrugged. "Okay then."

It was half an hour later and Ron was _still_ talking about his family.

"... you shoulda seen the look on mums face when Charlie said he was quitting school to go work on a dragon reserve in Romania. Bloody brilliant. 'course the row they 'ad lasted three days... don't think my hearing's been right since."

There was a knock at the compartment door. Two people came in: a girl a bit shorter than Ron but not as small as Rose, with neck length bushy brown hair and pronounced front teeth (for some reason she was carrying a book bag, even though they were still on the train) with her was a small round faced boy just a little taller than Rose, he had wavy dark blonde hair which looked oddly grey in places and looked very close to tears.

"Have either of you seen a rat?" the girl asked abruptly. "Neville's lost one. Name of?" she looked at the boy who blinked and said nervously; "Trevor."

The girl turned back to them and they both shook their heads. Rose smiled encouragingly at Neville while Ron said "Don't worry, he'll turn up."

Neville didn't look convinced. The girl immediately pulled him out of the compartment with a "Come on then, we've got more places to search."

Ron blinked and then turned back to Rose; "Anyway where was I... oh, yeah. Charlie woulda been a seventh year this year if he hadn't quit at mid-winter last year...

The train pulled silently into the station and Ron helped Rose carry her trunk off before getting his own and putting it on the cart with the others. A voice called over the crowd of children; "Firs' years! Over 'ere." They walked slowly forward and several of the first years gasped in shock as they saw the face on what they had assumed was a statue of some sort. Upon realizing that it was in fact a person many of them were staring. Apparently used to this the man said; "The name's Hagrid. Keeper o' the keys and grounds at Hogwarts. You'll be the firs' years an' I'll be takin' yeh up to t'castle. This way!" and with that the huge man lumbered out of the station, the first years hurrying after. After five minutes they reached the edge of a lake, it's surface smooth as glass and dark as pitch. On the shore rested perhaps a hundred wooden boats with runes carved on the topmost surface of the rim. "Get in then!" Hagrid shouted "No more'n four to a boat!" Ron and Rose were followed into their boat by Neville (whose tear-lined face now bore a grin and whose arms now bore a rat) and the girl from the train who was still carrying her book bag, which if anything looked even fuller.

The moment the last new student sat down the runes on the boats glowed faintly blue and they began moving over the surface of the water. Rose stared at the lake noticing that the boats seemed to be hovering just above the surface rather than moving through the water. As the boats crossed the deepest part of the lake tentacles were visible just beneath the surface. Each boat was touched by a tentacle and, seemingly satisfied, the giant squid retreated deeper into the lake. There was a slight pulse of yellow and a feeling of recognition as the boats crossed a line of buoys at the midway point. Rose looked around puzzled and she wasn't the only one. About one in four of the students had reacted with complete bewilderment to both the squids greeting and the pulse of magic. "'At was the Wards," Hagrid said loudly, "Yeh ain't bin sorted yet, so the Wards don' recognize yeh. Yeh have to be invited by the deputy head to be able to fin' the place even wi' the boats. An' anyone tryin' t'cross the lake in any boat but these 'll get pulled to the bottom by the squid. Don' ask wha' happens if you try an cross the wards there wi'out bein' in one o' these boats," Hagrid shuddered slightly as he said that part, "Should get yer firs' view owt castle when we round this bend."

The boats passed round a finger of land jutting into the lake and suddenly the castle was visible. There were more than a few gasps and a few people even went "oooh!" The castle should have been visible from miles away, yet somehow had remained completely unseen until this moment. It was beautiful, yet somehow disturbing. Rose realized why almost at once. While at first glance the castle appeared to be your standard fairytale castle all turrets and balconies (albeit with the somewhat Gothic touches of grotesques and gargoyles) this image didn't stand up to scrutiny. Following one wall of the castle upwards with your eyes you would somehow find yourself tracing the roof of another section, or perhaps the floor, or the side of a window. The entire castle looked like it had been drawn by Escher. And... it kept changing, like when you see a shape in the clouds how a fluffy blob might become a sailing ship without ever actually changing, with this castle you might find yourself looking at a tower only to realize it was actually the gap between two windows or an odd shape made by the wings of a rather large grotesque. It was also quite difficult to work out quite how far away it was or how large it was. Eventually Hagrid shouted "'Ere we go then! Ev'rybody out!"

The boats landed on a harbour. The children clambered out of the boats with some of the smaller ones, Rose included, requiring assistance, though Rose shied away from Ron's touch. They walked slowly up the stairs leading away from the harbour and stopped in front of a large ornate silver portcullis decorated with Gold Lions and Eagles and Silver Badgers and Snakes, all moving, all apparently unconcerned with the children approaching. When they were six feet from it all the filigree animals suddenly turned to look at them hissing growling and screeching all at once.


	4. Chapter IV Joining in while singled out

Joining in while singled out

The animals suddenly stopped as a woman wearing Bottle-green robes stepped forward from the door on the other side. The portcullis rose at the touch of a silver rod that looked somewhat like a key, although without any teeth, that Hagrid had taken from inside one of his pockets, at which point he announced "The firs' years as requested Deputy McGonagall Ma'am" he then gave a mock salute and strode calmly away across the grounds.

Rose looked at the Deputy and noted her somewhat stern appearance and a faint aura of power. This was not someone to cross (at least not without good reason). "Come on then." she led the way beneath the portcullis, which shivered alarmingly as they passed, and through the dark wooden door coated with runes on the other side. Once they were all through the portcullis it crashed down suddenly and the air between the bars began to ripple faintly. As they finished entering through the door Deputy McGonagall closed it and it melted away, revealing it to have been set into an unsupported archway standing in the middle of a room which now had no visible exits.

"My name is Professor McGonagall, I am the Transfiguration Master, the Head of Gryffindor House and The Deputy Headmistress of this school. You will address me as 'Professor' or 'Professor McGonagall' should you be sorted into Gryffindor House you should address me as 'Head' while on House business. The same privilege should be applied to the Head boy and Head girl whilst they are on duty. Whilst you attend this school your House will act as your family. You will live with them, you will eat with them, you will study with them, your misbehaviour will cost them points and your successes will gain them points. At the end of each year the House cup will be awarded to the House with the greatest number of points. Do you understand?" the students all nodded or murmured their assent.

"The four Houses of the school are as such: Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart; Ravenclaw, where intelligence is valued above all else; Hufflepuff, the House of fair play and loyalty; and Slytherin, where cunning and guile lead the way. Each House has a noble history and has provided many great witches and warlocks," her eyes twitched briefly "and not so great ones..." she trailed of quietly before shaking herself. "I will be leading you momentarily into the Great Hall, where you will be sorted. After you have been sorted you will join the table decorated with your House colours... unless the Weasley twins have messed with the tables again. In which case your new head of house will inform you of which table to join."

Professor McGonagall calmly turned and touched the archway which briefly glowed before a new door appeared within it. Opening the door calmly the Deputy Head led the first years through the opening and into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall lived up to it's name. It was easily the size of the magical platform between platforms nine and ten. Its ceiling seemed to have been painted to resemble the night sky. The clouds moved realistically across its surface and the stars (painted in silver) glinted softly at the assembled students. The walls were coated in paintings of various sizes, with no particular arrangement. The subjects of the paintings, whether portraits, landscapes, or group pictures, seemed to by moving too and not limited to their own frames. Scattered amongst them was the occasional photograph (also animated). The floor was made of tiles, in four different styles: silver badgers on yellow, golden lions on red, silver snakes on green and golden eagles on blue. There were six tables arranged in the hall, four filled with students, running the length of the hall and two filled with staff running the width of the hall at either end. Behind one of the staff tables there were four hourglasses and behind them a massive stained glass window taking up the entire wall and showing a great shield bearing the same four now familiar animals (also moving). Behind the other staff table; four uniquely carved pillars coated with runes which didn't seem to support anything. It was to the front of this table that Professor McGonagall led them. At the top of a fifth smaller pillar in front of this table was embedded what looked like a crystal ball filled with swirling fog.

Professor McGonagall stood at the side of the pillar. "Each of you in turn must touch the orb and be sorted," she held her right hand above the orb and closed it as though grabbing hold of something. A roll of parchment appeared in her hand and she unrolled it. Reading from the list she gestured to the students to come forward. "Abbot, Hannah."

A blond girl with pigtails stepped forward looking embarrassed and nervous. She touched the orb and the smoke swirled faster taking on multiple colours before glowing yellow. The Hufflepuff table, third from where they entered, immediately erupted in cheers. Hannah, blushing furiously, walked over to it and sat down, looking very much like she would like to sink into the floor and disappear.

The process repeated itself with 'Bones, Susan' getting sorted into Hufflepuff and 'Boot, Terry' getting sorted into Ravenclaw. It continued in this manner with 'Granger, Hermione' turning out to be the girl from the train (still carrying her book bag, though arranged to be more presentable) being placed in Gryffindor, 'Longbottom, Neville' joining her and 'Malfoy, Draco Malfoy' being placed in Slytherin. This was punctuated by catcalls from Fred and George every time a girl was placed in Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall eventually reached the P's and read out 'Potter, Jenny' at once there was an outbreak of muttering and whispering, though no-one stepped forward. Professor McGonagall looking irritated read out in a particularly stern voice 'Jennifer Rose Potter!' at once The twins and Ron turned to stare at Rose with shocked expressions on their faces. Rose somewhat reluctantly stepped forward amidst the mutterings and pressed her palm against the orb.

The world vanished. Rose was stood in swirling grey smoke with no sensation of the air or the ground. The orb was gone and so was everything else. Looking around panicked Rose heard a voice say gently "Relax, young one," this voice was apparently attached to a middle-aged plump woman with dark blonde hair and kind eyes. This woman was stood ten feet away and apparently made of swirling yellow smoke. "This is part of the sorting... we are... recordings of the founders. We take a look inside your head and try and decide amongst ourselves, with your input of course, which of our four Houses you belong in... the others should be along any moment."

Almost at once three other figures arrived, forming from the smoke. A tall dark haired man with a monkey-like face, a burly muscular man with a jovial ruddy face and a beautiful woman with long silver hair and pale skin. The plump woman wore yellow, the dark man green, the warrior red and the beautiful woman blue.

"Why are you lot always late?"

The dark haired man in green replied: "We were late the first time, so we have to be late every time. Besides which, you know you enjoy doing the introductions."

"Yes... well... anyway, we just have to wait to gain access to miss... Rose?" she looked at Rose who nodded, "miss Rose's memories and we can begin our discussions. Oh! I almost forgot, anything we find out this way is strictly confidential. Okay?" Rose nodded.

A few moments later a pulse rippled through the smoke, and the Founders stiffened. Rose suddenly became aware of the Founders names and a sense of their characters. Meanwhile the Founders became aware of Rose's memories. Ravenclaw (wearing blue) said "Merde" under her breath, while Hufflepuff said sinisterly "I'm going to kill him." Ravenclaw added: "Slowly, with a pair of tweezers."

The two men glanced at each other and Slytherin raised an eyebrow; "You're the brave one."

Gryffindor sighed, turned back to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and said "Ladies, your scaring the girl."

The two women blinked and turned to look at a wide eyed Rose sheepishly.

"I must apologize," Ravenclaw answered, "particularly since we cannot do anything of the sort, incorporeal as we are."

"Regardless we need to discuss your placement and based on what we now know it seems unlikely you will offer much input?" Gryffindor said questioningly. Rose shook her head.

"Then the question becomes: 'What will you do in the mean-time?' does it not?" Slytherin said with a smile. He raised his hand and a small model of a series of pens and cages rose from the mists. Seeing what he was up to, Gryffindor quickly created a series of small lions about the size of kittens, each of which stood perfectly still until Rose touched one. At which point it reared on its hind legs and roared convincingly before setting itself back down. Each of the other Founders created their own model animals: snakes, eagles and badgers. Rose smiled happily and set about playing with the animated (and cuddly) toys. The Founders smiled briefly at her then turned back to each other and with more serious looks on their faces began their discussion.

"She can be mischievous and cunning, she's certainly manipulative, but I don't think my house would be good for her, particularly with this 'Pure-Blood' nonsense everyone seems to have lumped me in with. I mean honestly, when we founded this school witches and warlocks were being burnt at the stake by the normals! I thought laying a path to our door by allowing normal-born witches and warlocks in was just plain suicidal. Which is why I insisted on all the extra wards when you lot strong-armed me into it," This was Slytherin.

"We've had this argument before Sal. You know I agree with your reasons, but it was unfair to the normal-borns. I also agree this time, she may have many of your more... sterling qualities but she won't be able to deal with the others in your House for long periods," Gryffindor commented calmly.

"She's smart enough and focused enough to be a Ravenclaw... but she lacks the desire to learn that is key among my House," Ravenclaw's summary was summarily accepted.

"She lacks forgiveness," was Hufflepuff's simple statement.

The Founders nodded. As one the three other Founders turned to face Gryffindor, who smiled slightly.

"She stepped forward despite her fears, she was willing to face off against Malfoy and his thugs and though plagued by self doubt she has always tried to help others. She held on a long time, longer than most would have done. I would be proud to call her a Gryffindor," Gryffindor beamed and looked to the others who nodded in confirmation.

They turned back to Rose who was still playing happily with the fluffy animals.

"We've made our decision," Gryffindor said calmly. Rose looked up at them. Gryffindor continued "You're going into Gryffindor. But... and strictly speaking were not supposed to do this... we're going to make you an offer. If you ever need to talk with someone, feel free to drop in, at any time. Remember everything we learn from you is strictly confidential," Gryffindor smiled and the other Founders nodded. They dissolved slowly back into the smoke.

Rose blinked and looked around, she was back in the Great Hall and apparently only a few moments had gone by. The orb was glowing red. Smiling slightly and a little less nervous she walked towards the red table and the catcalling Weasley twins. As she sat down the twins grinned at her, "So... thought you'd keep your identity a secret then, eh?" they said together, "Reluctant to get a little recognition, eh?" said the one on the right, "Backfired spectacularly wouldn't you say, eh?" said the other one. Rose sighed and shook her head. "I-I don't like... at-attention," she stuttered out. With most of the school focused on her she couldn't fade out like she normally would. Stuck with the school watching she settled for staring at the table and trying without success to fade into the background, counteracting an entire schools attention span was beyond her abilities. Though it did get a few of them to stop paying _quite_ so much attention. The Weasley twins weren't properly distracted until Ron's turn came up (though they still gave their catcalls when girls joined the Gryffindors).

Ron was quickly sorted into Gryffindor and joined the table with considerable relief. He spent the rest of the sorting staring oddly at Rose, who became more and more uncomfortable. When the sorting finished with 'Zabini, Blaise' being made a Slytherin a man wearing bright purple robes with strutting white peacocks on them stood up from the staff table by the pillars. "For those who do not know, I... am Headmaster Dumbledore and I have a few announcements to make. Firstly, I would like to welcome back our Defence Instructor, Professor Quirrell, who is returning to us after an extended period of absence due to ill health," he gestured to the rather ill looking young man in the purple turban sat on the other side of the room who waved weakly back at them all, "Secondly, I would like to make the new students aware that the woods surrounding the grounds are called 'the Forbidden Forest' for a reason. Many of our older students should also be aware of this fact by this point," here his eyes drifted briefly over to the Weasley twins who stood up and bowed graciously then sat down with innocent smiles on their faces. Dumbledore's mouth twitched slightly and his eyes twinkled with amusement. "Thirdly, the passage going upwards from the third floor Charms classrooms to the ground floor care of magical creatures classrooms is, this year, out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die," there was murmuring at this announcement but Dumbledore continued as though he hadn't noticed "and finally students wishing to form an Assault team should speak to their captain or Head of House by no later than November. Now I have just one last thing to say: Tuck In."

Every table suddenly filled with food on wooden platters and plates. The entire school began to do as instructed, quickly filling their plates with large portions of food of many kinds. Ron continued to stare, though, to be fair, so did many of the other students. Once the meal was over the prefects began to gather up the first years and led them from the Hall. Being full of food and it being eight o'Clock at this point the new students were somewhat inattentive and as such many of them failed to notice that the route they were taking involved opening a bookcase like a door, climbing a staircase hidden behind a tapestry and weirdest of all turning down a passageway that despite being completely different apparently occupied the same space as a passageway they'd already taken a minute earlier. Arriving at a stained glass window of a lion through which the grounds were visible Percy opened the window revealing a cosy room in reds and browns with a roaring fire on one side. Climbing through they closed the window behind them (From this side it showed the view from the lion part of the stained glass window in the Great Hall). Percy directed the first years up the staircase to a series of rooms with brass plates on saying things like 'Third Year Boys' but which didn't seem to be in any particular order, equally should any of the rooms be larger than a broom closet they would overlap. Upon opening the door marked 'First Year Girls' Rose found a corridor with eight rooms off it. One of which bore a little brass plate with 'Lavender Brown, Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil, Jenny Potter' written on it. Rose scowled at the nameplate before opening the door and stepping into a room containing four four-poster beds with red drapes. The room also contained their luggage and another door which upon closer inspection led to a bathroom with shower and bath.

As the girls walked in Hermione stepped forward, held out her hand and said "Hermione Granger."

Rose blinked, then hesitantly shook her hand, "Rose," she said quietly.

Hermione said eagerly, "Are you _the_ Jenny Potter," Rose flinched "The one from the History books? Only known survivor of the killing curse?"

Rose sighed and then nodded. Hermione looked puzzled. "Shouldn't you be proud of that? Surviving where no-one else has?"

Rose looked at her and said softly, "I saw my mother die, would you be proud of that? Or want to be reminded of it every time you meet someone?"

Hermione paled visibly and shook her head, a mortified look on her face. Lavender and Parvati hadn't paid the least bit of attention to the conversation and had instead chosen to sit on a bed and gossip.

The morning of the next day Rose left the dormitory only to find that the first year girls corridor had rearranged itself at sometime during the night. It was no longer straight for one thing, and the doors where in a different order. Exiting she found that the dormitory was still a tower at least. The doors here were in a different order than yesterday but otherwise the tower appeared unchanged. Making her way into the common room she found it to have remained exactly the same. Rose was the first one up. She examined the room closely, taking in the portraits and fireplace. The red sofas with gold trim were fluffy and comfortable. The walls were made of a pinkish granite. The tapestries bore depictions of that classic fairytale image; a knight on horseback rescuing a princess from a dragon. In one corner stood a portrait the size of a doorway, it bore the image of Godric Gryffindor. When Gryffindor turned and winked at her she giggled slightly. He then turned and stilled pretending to be a normal portrait. Rose smiled and continued her exploration of the room. Once she had finished she walked to the stained glass window and proceeded outside.

An hour later Rose walked back into the common room a puzzled expression on her face. There she stopped, Ron was stood in front of her, a slightly hurt expression decorating his face. Rose slowly walked forward until they were a few feet away from each other.

"Why didn't you tell me who you were, Jenny?" she flinched.

Rose shook her head and looked almost pleadingly at him. "Not J-Jenny," she said somewhat forcefully.

Ron blinked and then smiled slightly, remembering the 'conversation' on the train. "Not Jenny?"

She flinched then smiled at him and brushed her hair out of her face briefly. Ron looked more than a little amused and just a bit confused. He shrugged. "Okay then, Rose."

She smiled brightly at him and together they approached the group of other first years gathered around Percy and a girl they didn't know, but who was apparently also a prefect.

"Right then," she said brightly, "My name is Jeanie and your wish is my command, I'm kidding, but seriously, if you've got any questions about the school or you've got any personal problems, come to me. I'm normally here or hanging around the Great Hall if you need me. If you want to get someone in trouble or your struggling with your homework talk to Percy here. I have it on good authority that the last time he made a mistake on his homework dinosaurs ruled the Earth. If you hadn't worked it out yet he's the serious one and I'm the...other one, Perce anything to add?" Jeanie said this all in one breath with a chipper attitude, while Percy stood there with an attitude of stern indifference.

After the prefects finished their Q&A session they led the group down to the Great Hall. The route they took was completely different than the one they'd taken the night before, though no less improbable. With breakfast well under-way when they arrived the first years got stuck in. Many of the people in the Hall were openly staring at Rose where she sat. Rose appeared to take this in stride but Ron noticed that she was blushing and staring at the table a lot. Over the course of the meal she ate very little and seemed to sink into herself under the weight of all their stares, she was trembling nervously.


	5. Chapter V Lost and Found

Lost and Found

They were escorted to their first lesson by the Prefects, as none of the first years had any clue how to find anything. It was a lesson in basic magical theory taught by Professor Sinistra. They had yet to be set in anything so for the first term at least they were going to be grouped by House. Once all the Gryffindors had arrived and Percy had nodded at the Professor to confirm this, (Jeanie had waved cheekily and simply walked away) the Professor greeted the class.

"Good morning class," She said this somewhat half-heartedly. "I'm going to be your teacher for the day. Normally you'd be having multiple teachers in different classrooms but none of you would know how to get to them so... anyway. First things first who can tell me what a wand does?" a few hands went up hesitantly from the forty or so children standing in the room. The teacher looked around the room absently and picked one of the hands at random.

"I-It allows us to use magic miss," the mousy haired boy said nervously.

Professor Sinistra smiled softly but said "And how do we make wands then?"

"Using magic?" the boy asked quietly.

"So the first wand fell out of the sky did it?"

"Uh..."

The Professor sighed and stated "A wand draws power from the Sky and power from the Earth and combines them both with your own aura. This makes your aura easier to control and slightly more powerful. A wand draws more power the larger it is but it is not directly proportionate to simple size. A longer wand will be more powerful than another wand that is identical in every other way. But the material the wand is composed of makes a difference as does the wands core. The thickness of a wand also plays a role. Can anyone tell me what the difference is between a wand and a staff?" the question she ended with caused a few of the students to glance at each other, Hermione put her hand up.

"Yes?"

"A staff increases power while a wand increases control."

"A good approximation but not completely accurate," Hermione frowned slightly "When you first start using a wand its size is used to balance out your power thereby maximizing your control. The more powerful you are the more powerful your wand needs to be. However as your control and power increase with training and use, you will progress to more powerful wands. There comes a point where the increase of power provided by the wand actually starts to fight against the control of the individual. At this turning point anything larger is considered a staff and anything smaller is considered a wand. With a wand the wands power is being used to aid your control of your own aura. With a staff it is the other way round. Understand?"

Everyone nodded.

"Next we need to discuss auras. Firstly how many of you here can do some wandless magic?"

About a quarter of the students raised their hands. The mousy haired boy, who had earlier said that wands allowed you to use magic, now looked embarrassed.

"People generally have two areas of magic they are connected to. These are determined by the nature of the individuals aura. First, a substance or element. They will normally find it easier to use spells with their wand associated with that element. For example: I find it easy to use spells associated with water. And have been able to manipulate water wandlessly since I was just a little older than you. The second aspect is a concept, such as transfiguration or charms."

She glanced at the sea of raised hands and pointed randomly, "You. What can you do?"

Rose nervously glanced from side to side then, seeing no way out, said "I-I can..." she trailed off nervously blushing as everyone turned to look at her. She began to quickly fade into the background, despite the staring crowd.

Professor Sinistra raised an eyebrow, "A glamour? Notice me not, if I'm not mistaken. Less effective the more people there are and the greater the level of attention already being shown. Quite useful. You." she said pointing at another student at random.

Once she had finished going round all the students who could do some wandless magic she continued her explanation, detailing, in her bored manner, how you shaped the power within the wand in order to create the spell. Apparently because each person had access to two classifications of spell naturally those spells were easiest to cast with a wand. Casting others however would require greater control. She asked them all to attempt a basic divination spell called 'Scrying' and corrected their motions, aura manipulation and pronunciation. She then explained that finding your way around the castle required some divination as things tended to move around. This was why the basic scrying technique was taught before all other magic, regardless of what peoples aura type was.

When they broke for morning break the five people who had a 'divining aura' and had therefore managed to master the spell in the time were asked to guide the rest of the group to the common room using a picture of the window (an unchanging feature of the entrance) as a guide. It took till the end of the day for one in four of the students to achieve a basic use of the spell even with continuous instruction. Hermione was the first without the correct aura to manage it. Neither Rose nor Ron were able to even get close.

That night, Rose, full of determination, deliberately left the common room, alone, and got herself well and truly lost. Once lost she repeatedly attempted to use the spell to get back to the common room. Despite having started at eight, it was well past midnight by the time she got the hang of casting the spell. Without the picture to guide her back to the window, however, she eventually found herself in the Great Hall. Stopping to talk with the founders about her first day, she used the Gryffindor section of the back window to find the common room. Several times she had to return to the hall again. On the twelfth try she managed to maintain the spell long enough to reach the common room. Confident in her ability to use the spell now, she went to bed. Hermione was still awake and somewhat frantic. It took Rose pointing out that nothing bad had happened and she'd managed to learn the 'Scrying' spell for her to calm down.

In the morning they spent time with an aura stone to try and find out what their specific Aura types were. Ron turned out to be Air and Charms, Hermione had Earth and Transfiguration and Neville was Earth and Druidism. None of the three had any wandless magic.

Partway through the lesson Rose was approached by Professor Sinistra, "why aren't you using the stone?" she asked curiously, "Just because you know what your subject is, doesn't mean your done. You still need to know what your element is," she pointed out calmly.

"Fire," Rose said after a moments hesitation.

"You already know which element you're aligned with?" she asked sceptically.

Rose nodded. Holding out her hand she allowed her aura to come to the surface. Immediately the Professor recoiled and stared at the flames in Rose's hand. All noise in the classroom stopped abruptly. Hermione was looking curiously at the other students, many of which were staring. Twisting and writhing black flames sat in Rose's palm.

"Would... er... would you mind putting it out now dear?" The Professor asked nervously. The fire sank into Rose's skin and vanished. Relief shone on the Professor's face and a few students faces too.

Hermione raised her hand. When the Professor raised an eyebrow at her she asked; "Why is everyone acting so oddly? I mean I know fire isn't normally black but why is everyone staring?"

Sinistra smiled slightly, "Your definitely normal-born, no-one raised in the craft would ask that question... Black fire is a form of fire that consumes the substance it touches without spreading to anything else. It cannot be extinguished using water or wind or earth because it doesn't consume air. Instead it consumes magic. This means it cannot be extinguished by magic either. So long as the object it is consuming contains magic, the fire will continue to burn until it has been consumed. It consumes heat, light and magic in addition to solid matter and it leaves no traces. It is considered dark magic. As such anyone deliberately creating it using a wand will find themselves in Azkaban Prison. As with all dark magic, should someone's natural trait be an illegal spell that person is granted an exemption because no-one can control what their natural traits are."

The rest of the lesson passed smoothly only because Rose maintained her Notice-Me-Not glamour at full strength for the entire duration.


End file.
